i know this is the Giant Schnauzer forum, but i'm wondering if anyone can point me in the right direction for "working" lines of Standards. i have been looking only a short time, but i am having a hard time at it. Any info is appreciated.

Good luck.


A while ago I was curious about the standard as a working prospect and if there were any pockets of stock still bred that were capable of bitework, obedience, guarding, and tracking.


This is the best place I found for information.


Working Standard Schnauzer

Thank you! Now, to find the ones here in America......

Right. . .don't hold your breath.

Try Lyle and Debbie Rotemeyer. They had two that were awesome in the bitework. I loved watching them get driven. All four feet off the ground. They were tough dogs. Lyle and Debbie are the training director for Cumberland Valley.

I was looking into Giants a few months back and found this kennel:
http://www.skansen.com
She breeds standards although Giants are her main thing.
Mostly conformation lines but from all of the info she sent and talked about I'll bet something from her could maybe be a good worker. She is in Northern Ca. north of San Francisco.
If you email her and ask for info she'll send you this HUGE packet of info with an audio tape full of everything you'll want to know. Then if you have more questions, just call her.
One more thing.... most all of her stock is black.

Thanks Jim and Karmen. i'm looking into these resources now.

Hi All,

Finally a breed worth talking about, lol. I currently own two Standard Schnauzers and compete in AKC obedience. After owning several large breeds and after losing our last two, a Rot & GSD of old age at the end of '99 we decided we wanted something smaller but still wanted to stay in the working group. Also we were tired of all the loose dog hair so the non-shed standard coat was really appealing to us. I'm happy to report it took care of 95% reduction of loose dog hair but there is grooming involved.

Here's a few of my thoughts as to why I don't think it is that difficult to find a working prospect in a standard. First they're not bred in great numbers. The last time I checked it was 400 to 500 in the US each year. Second I don't think there has been as much concentrated effort to breed the drive out of these dogs for the conformation ring and for the general public to own by show breeders. Because unlike most of the other working dogs 75 to 100lbs we're only talking 40 to 50lbs. When they were first brought over to the US they were put in the terrier group and later moved to the working group. Even with the show people considering their terrier relationship a little more fiesty is acceptable.

When I went looking for my first one I got lucky and found a litter 3 1/2 hours away. This was a small home breeder. She owned the mother and father and a half sister from an earlier breeding. The father was a champion and the mother was just a couple of points from her championship. I didn't get to meet the father he lived with her daughter. I did get to meet the mother, very calm, stable, solid dog. Alot of conformation people tend to dominate and I guess for a lack of a better word take the drive out of their dogs to make them more placid in the show ring. I guess what I'm trying to say in standards there's still drive inside those dogs it's just repressed thru handling instead of being genetically removed. This litter tested fantastic. There were 10 pups and I think any one of them could have been a good candidate for lots of activity. I narrowed it down to the two best looking males and tested them individually and they were both great. I did tug of war games when he was a pup with a rag and moved him on to a jute when his permanent teeth came in. There's no sport clubs where I live so no avenue to continue. I did have a friend that had done some helper work out of our area work him on a jute a few times and he thought he had good bite and alot of confidence. This guy has tons of ball drive and food drive and is an eager, willing worker. He swept his novice and open titles with all first and second places. He currently has two legs of the three required for his utility title both with first place finishes but he's also nq'd several times in this group. This is the first time I've trained some of these exercises and I didn't proof him good enough. He can also take a correction. I've used everything from flat collar, choke collar, prong collar and e collar and we both prefer the e collar. They tend to bond really close to you and he resents a leash correction because he knows it's coming from me. By the way he just turned 4.

When our boy was about one we went looking for a female. Not for breeding but another companion for us and a play mate for him. Hopefully to help burn off some of the excess energy he has. That's when we found ourselves at the before mentioned Skansen kennel. This is where I'm going to give you a word of warning about looking for a working prospect at Skansen's. This is a large 100 acre ranch where she is breeding all three sizes of Schnauzers and Llamas. Although I believe she has some really nice dogs and has some top winning conformation Schnauzers I don't believe for a good working prospect the pups are getting enough human contact and socialization and exposed to all the different sights and sounds that they would in a home environment.
We were getting desperate because we could not find anything and we wanted to get one before our boy got any older. Plus I wasn't looking for a top working prospect but I would have hoped for better. We wound up getting a 3 month old solid black female who is now 3. Although I love her size and conformation, she's actually bigger than our male, lol, she does have some tempermant flaws. I think some of them would have been less severe if I would have gotten her at 8 weeks of age as opposed to 3 months, but some of them also might be genetic or traits from her mother after birth. She's sound sensitive, her drives are sporadic. You can have her in good drive one minute then she will shut down in a second. We also have to watch her around other dogs. She has been able to get her novice and open titles with decent scores and she loves people and has good food drive, but is handler soft. One day she looks like she enjoys working and the next she acts like it's killing her.

So the best advice I have is I would look for a litter that is welped in the home and raised around all the daily activities and with human contact. Try to see the whole litter and look for uniformity in the tempermant and really bold, outgoing, confident pups. Don't let a show breeder pick a pup for you to be a good working prospect that's just a disaster waiting to happen. Don't fool yourself and think that these are easy pups. Out of all the different pups I've raised these are the biggest handful, because of their extreme intelligence and tremendous athletic ability at a young age they can really keep you busy. They can get into all sorts of mischief, but they're also the most rewarding breed I've owned and well worth the effort. They're truly a 24/7 dog, not meant to be or will do well if kept in a kennel or on a chain.

Sorry for being so long winded but as you can tell I'm really passionate about dogs and especially Standard Schnauzers and training.

Good Luck,

Craig

hey craig,
that is pretty much what i found when i was looking into the standards. the only problem i did find was with breeders not wanting their dogs to participate in the sports. i have been around quite a few and most of them seemed to be really nice dogs. i did have one for a while that would have been pretty good, had he not had epilepsy. his nerves were great, good drives, i just chose not to work with him because of his seizures. funny thing about skanson, i believe the only "working" female giant being bred (that i know of) that has titles on it is a skanson dog. she was a sch2 last i checked. i still wouldn't mind trying one myself.
brandon

Thanks Guys! (and girls <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) i guess i'll just start rubbing elbows with the breeders/trainers around here. And lurk on internet boards....

i have a club i could train with, if i had a suitable dog. My friend is training her dog and i visit a lot <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> i suppose i can ask one of them to help me when the time is right.

Thanks again for everyone's help. But, if there's anymore to add, please do! i check this board often. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />